


plan on me

by SheWhoWalksUnseen



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: (albeit briefly mentioned), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas Eve, Jewish Leonard Snart, M/M, Mistletoe, Post-Oculus Leonard Snart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21949240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheWhoWalksUnseen/pseuds/SheWhoWalksUnseen
Summary: “Do I want to know what you’re doing, kid,” Leonard said slowly, leaning his left shoulder against the doorframe in the entranceway to the kitchen, “or is it best not to ask?”Or, in which a thief out of time decides to visit for the holidays.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Comments: 20
Kudos: 226





	plan on me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [avengersincamphalfbloodstardis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avengersincamphalfbloodstardis/gifts).



> For the DC Secret Santa for avengersincamphalfbloodstardis! Writing these two always comes easy so your prompt was a lot of fun to bring to life. I hope you enjoy, and happy holidays!

“Do I want to know what you’re doing, kid,” Leonard said slowly, leaning his left shoulder against the doorframe in the entranceway to the kitchen, “or is it best not to ask?”

He tried not to smirk when Barry didn’t manage to stifle his yelp in time, a spark of yellow sizzling along his bicep as he steadied himself. With one foot on the granite countertop (something Leonard was grateful he wasn’t wearing shoes on, though still rather gross considering the flour and dough inches away from his socked toes) and the other wobbling on the wooden stool beside it, he really had to wonder how Barry hadn’t been jumped in his own apartment before Leonard came into his life. Because _really_. He’d even made a show of opening and shutting the front door not-so-quietly half a minute ago. Hell, he hadn’t even needed to use a lock pick this time.

Granted, perhaps Barry was expecting the Wests as company or his team at S.T.A.R. Labs, but Leonard knew Barry well enough by now to guess that neither were probably the case in this instance. Also, the door hadn’t been locked last time he cased the apartment anyway, which was enough indication that the fastest man alive sometimes thought _too_ fast for his own good if he couldn’t remember to lock his own front door.

Barry twisted to look over his shoulder sheepishly at Leonard, eyes a little wide as he scanned him in a quick once-over. Between the cheeks flushed a pretty pink and the red sweater riding up enough on his back to display a sliver of skin, it was difficult to maintain eye contact. The quirk to Barry’s lips didn’t help matters much either.

“Do I want to know why you’re in my apartment and not robbing a bank?” Barry raised an eyebrow after the words left him as if he couldn’t quite believe Leonard would choose anything involving Barry over petty crime. Which - a little rude, but Leonard couldn’t bring himself to feel offended. It was hard to when he was more focused on keeping his smirk casual and indifferent than the contagious smile Barry was silently tugging out of him.

“I have other hobbies, you know.”

“Breaking into apartments is a hobby?” The speedster snorted and turned back around to whatever his hands were clutching on the ceiling. “I’m not surprised.”

The fact that Barry could let his guard down enough for a wanted criminal to gaze openly at the planes of his back through that sweater - _vulnerable, weak, don’t give them a moment to hesitate, Leo_ \- gave Leonard pause. Only for a split-second, never more, but it infuriated and worried him nonetheless.

When had Barry gotten so comfortable with _him_ , of all people, to give him a clear shot like this? In his own apartment?

When had _Leonard_ started allowing him these windows of opportunity?

“Didn’t have to.” He crossed the kitchen to the front of the stool where Barry was wobbling anew on both the counter and the flat wooden surface of the stool. Barry didn’t even blink if he noticed Leonard was much closer now. “A certain scarlet speedster left the door wide open. A rather nice welcoming gift for the holidays, don’t you think?”

Another snort escaped Barry but he didn’t look down. “It wasn’t wide open.”

“Kind of is if you forget to lock it, _Barry_.” Leonard couldn’t help the way his tone curved around his name like a reprimand.

Barry’s eyes darted down, lightning fast as always, and there again was that tick at the corner of his mouth, a small smile he refused to stifle. “My bad.”

“‘ _My bad_ ’?” Leonard repeated, his nose wrinkling. “That’s all you have to say? _My bad_?”

“I’m a little busy at the moment,” Barry shot back, nodding toward what looked like a wad of green yarn in his hands before Leonard squinted and realized it had _leaves_. “Besides, Cisco was over earlier and we were busy then too, so I might’ve just forgotten! You really wanna tell me you don’t forget from time to time to lock your door?”

“I’m a criminal. Would be rather silly if I did,” Leonard drawled, and ice crept into his voice whether he wanted to emulate his Captain Cold persona or not.

Barry just shrugged, still surprisingly unbothered for someone having a chat with said criminal in his kitchen. Leonard began to wonder if he thought this conversation was a dream or some odd hallucination. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time.

Not that he particularly wanted to remember the way Barry’s eyes welled up with tears when Leonard unconsciously folded himself through the rifts of space and time to hurl himself into existence in Barry’s bedroom nearly a month ago, nor the hysterical laughter that ensued once he accepted that Leonard _wasn’t_ some bizarre figment of his imagination and how tightly Barry yanked him into an embrace after that. At least it hadn’t taken the Legends long to pinpoint whatever disturbance he’d made in the timeline and interrupt Barry’s overeager line of questioning. And all the hugging. The knowing look on Mick’s face when Barry sped a good three feet away from Leonard, lightning kicking up at his heels as he proceeded to trip over the rug, made Leonard grimace even now.

Listen. He wasn’t an idiot. 

Though, he conceded to himself, Lisa and Mick would heartily disagree. And perhaps Sara, since she’d punched him in the shoulder after giving him a teary hug of her own and called him an idiot multiple times. To his face.

Still.

Leonard thought he recognized the way Barry gravitated towards him - always _had_ gravitated towards him, ever since that armored truck robbery, ever since the train and everything that had come afterward. Barry was hardly subtle with those bright-eyed stares, and while Leonard made sure to keep his distance since he’d popped back into present day Central City, avoiding someone as persistent as the Flash was near-impossible.

Seeking out the man himself probably didn’t help his case, of course, but Leonard was never good at staying away from trouble.

“So,” Barry said, eyes already trained back on the mistletoe in his grasp, “you still haven’t answered me.”

“About?”

“Why you’re here?”

Leonard shrugged before remembering Barry wasn’t looking, his own gaze drifting across the kitchen and the twinkling lights tangled in the garland above the cabinets. He reached out with a finger and traced a slow snowflake in the flour next to the cookie dough on the counter. “Can’t a thief have his secrets?”

“You literally broke into my apartment, Snart.” When he glanced up, Barry was shaking his head and failing to fight back a smile. “Also it’s Christmas Eve, so sue me if I’m a little curious about why you decided to either visit or rob me today of all days.”

Despite himself, Leonard let out a quiet laugh. “I’d say the holiday season makes you more cautious but you haven’t arrested me.”

“Haven’t given me any reason to yet,” Barry countered. 

“Yet.”

Green eyes met his, glinting just as bright as the Christmas lights around him. Barry lowered his hands, tilting his head down at Leonard. “Besides, maybe I missed you too.”

Leonard straightened his posture, eyes narrowing as he tried not to feel like a petulant child fuming below Barry. “Who said anything about missing anyone?”

In the blink of an eye and an unsteady shake of the stool, Barry was standing before Leonard, hands resting on his hips in typical Flash fashion, though he looked far from ready to run him to Iron Heights. Leonard just raised an eyebrow when Barry didn’t move, which earned him an eye-roll in turn.

“For a thief, you’re a really bad liar.” He nodded toward the flour and dough behind Leonard. “But if you don’t mind...”

Leonard shifted to the side so Barry could pass him. The brush of Barry’s fingers created a warm path along the sleeve of his jacket. Even through the leather, whatever energy Barry radiated with that lightning of his penetrated easily, as if it were tissue paper.

“Mick still off with the Legends?” Barry asked as he fiddled with a star-shaped cookie cutter above the dough.

“Seems like it.” When he was given a curious look, Leonard sighed, resting his hip against the counter. “Haven’t heard from him in a while.”

“Oh.” For the first time, Barry paused, something Leonard couldn’t quite catch flickering across his features. He pressed the cookie cutter into the dough, his lips forming a thin, pursed line dangerously close to becoming a pout. “I’m sorry.”

“Kid, Mick and I have gone years without speaking to each other. ‘M not worried. Besides, he’s got those idiots with him, so he’ll be fine.”

“Well - no, that’s not why...” Barry’s brow furrowed as he glanced at Leonard. “I just meant... He hasn’t talked to you since you...“ His mouth swung shut and he thought for a second. “Since you got back.”

They both knew that wasn’t what Barry wanted to say. It was a rather delicate way of phrasing _He hasn’t talked to you since you died. You know, since you somehow threw yourself headfirst out of that empty void we call space and time, and then decided to avoid me until now._

Leonard was careful not to meet Barry’s eyes when he spoke, his gaze firmly fixed on the half-hearted designs he’d made with his finger in the flour on the countertop. “Like I said, Mick’s busy. Which is fine by me. Needed to get readjusted to Central City anyhow.” His smirk sharpened at the corners. “Been a few years, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“That what you were doing? Readjusting?” He didn’t like how soft Barry’s voice was getting.

“In a way.”

Barry hummed but didn’t say anything more. Leonard watched him cut out four more stars, shaking and tugging the excess dough free with gentle fingers. Strange as it was to see someone as quick as the Flash making Christmas cookies in his apartment, the slow pace was almost soothing to watch. He’d pinned Barry more for an impatient baker, starting fires and speeding through the steps with little care.

“Midnight snack?”

Barry looked up. “Hmm?”

“Making a lot for a midnight snack,” Leonard repeated, and somehow a tease that wasn’t quite the sneer he’d hoped for crept into his tone as he gestured toward the dough.

Barry smiled and this time it wasn’t nearly as amused, more rueful and small on his lips. “They’re not all for me.”

“Oh?”

“Look, I can eat a lot but not even sugar cookies taste good after the first five.” The smile became a grimace for a moment. “Or ten.”

“Didn’t say I was judging, _Flash_.”

“They’re for tomorrow,” Barry explained. “Iris put me on cookie duty since Joe banned her from cooking anything this year, and Wally can’t make more than a couple cups of ramen.”

“And no one bothered to offer help, I see.”

Barry laughed, surprise winking behind dark eyes at his own reaction as he shook his head. “Hey, you didn’t see how bad Iris’s cookies were last year. You try eating a cookie so burnt that you can feel your tongue shriveling as you swallow it.”

“Delightful as that sounds, I think I’ll pass,” Leonard remarked. Against his will, his eyes darted to the bare skin of Barry’s ring finger, pale and standing stark against the scarlet (how ironic, he mused inwardly) sweater. His memories were still a little jumbled from the Oculus and whatever time jump he’d managed, but a whisper of a drawled “Just don’t sit me at the singles table at the wedding reception” drifted lazily around the back of his brain.

Ah. Right. Suppose that hadn’t gone well. 

At least Miss West was alive, which ruled out the first assumption that came to mind.

Barry cleared his throat and Leonard’s eyes shot up to meet his rather amused pair. Again came the eerie sensation of being a kid caught with his hand halfway down a cookie jar.

“You could’ve just asked,” Barry said.

Leonard didn’t bother mentioning that he’d only just remembered the engagement at all, and forced a smirk. “Seemed rude.”

“It’s been a couple of years.” Barry faltered again, that same uncertainty he’d worn in his bedroom a month ago shining through the cracks of his expression. “Not that you - uh, that doesn’t matter. It was a mutual break-up, anyway. Timing didn’t seem great and all, even with the Nazis crashing the wedding.”

Leonard blinked. “Right. Nazis.” He made a mental note to ask Mick, or maybe Sara if she was more willing to talk, what the hell _that_ was about.

“Yeah. I guess you’ve missed a lot.” Barry brushed off some of the flour caked onto his hands and grabbed another cookie cutter, one shaped like a cartoonish Santa hat. “How’s Lisa, by the way?”

 _Smooth move, Flash_ , he wanted to growl under his breath. Judging by the twitch to Barry’s smile, he knew exactly what can of worms he was opening. Asshole probably got the news from Cisco.

“Pleasant as ever. Only threatened me _twice_ with a concussion if I didn’t get out of her apartment. But you already knew that.”

Barry chuckled, confirming his suspicions. “Not my fault they ran into each other, okay?”

“Meeting up for coffee isn’t ‘running into each other’,” Leonard said and his eyes narrowed when Barry continued to laugh at his expense.

“Again, _not_ my fault! Plus, Cisco’s kinda dating someone right now, so you don’t have to worry or get all overprotective.” The look he sent Leonard was horrifyingly knowing, far too much like the eager gleam in Mick’s eyes when he took in the situation in Barry’s bedroom. “You didn’t come here to tell me you turned him into an ice statue, did you?”

“Oh, no,” Leonard deadpanned. “You caught me red-handed.”

“It’s a valid question!”

“Whatever happened to faith and believing in the ‘good in me’?” Leonard teased.

Barry’s smile curled softer around the curved outline of his dimples. “I can believe in you and be concerned for my friend’s potentially frozen state at the same time, Snart.”

Shit. He wasn’t prepared for the spike in his chest of... _something_. He dared to call it a rising stomachache. It’d been both too short and too long since Barry’s last emphatic hero speech, and he really wasn’t in the mood for another.

Likely recognizing the distaste on his features, Barry huffed and waggled the silver Santa hat at him. “Look, you’ve got no room to argue, Mr. ‘I’m Gonna Save Time Even If It’s The Last Thing I Do’.”

“That was a fluke.”

“A _fluke_?” Okay, maybe he deserved that scoff. “You literally sacrificed yourself. You’re a hero.”

“Fat luck of a difference that ‘sacrifice’ made in the end, because here I am,” Leonard sneered. 

“Timeline’s still saved! And now so are you!”

“ _Sure_ , if that’s what you want to call it.”

“What, do you - do you wish you were still dead?” Something cracked in Barry’s frown, the cookie cutter falling to the counter with a quiet clang as Barry released it an inch or so above the granite. “You said so yourself when you came back, it’s a second chance - ”

“That clearly should’ve been given elsewhere since the world’s moved on, don’t you think, Barry?” Leonard snapped, teeth grinding together with every word. He swore he could feel the hum of energy under his flesh, a faint spark hissing and sizzling in his veins with vitriol he couldn’t stifle. It reminded him too much of the nothingness and everything of the Oculus, the shifting of currents through time and the _silence_ , so empty and cold, more frigid than anywhere he’d been in his life, seeping through his bones like the blood wrought from his father’s fist on a good day when -

Leonard shut his eyes and he inhaled a breath that thankfully didn’t tremble when he let it escape a moment later. The thrumming and humming subsided, little by little, whispers of memories creeping back to their warped cages before he could lose himself to them.

“It told me to come back,” Leonard murmured, and when he locked eyes with Barry, the man was standing stock-still, no longer fidgeting or twitching under the weight of his gaze. “It told me I had to go back, or forward, or - wherever it wanted, I don’t know. So I pushed and fought through time and wound up here.”

“And that’s a good thing,” Barry said. There was a hitch to his breath but he held firm, unshakable as ever. “It’s _good_ that you came back, Leonard.”

“Central City’s moved on, I’d say. I’ve seen the metas and new Rogues, kid - even if they’re sloppy as hell and clearly have some weird daddy issues to work through.” He managed a smile when Barry snorted. “Even the Legends don’t have enough room in their little Kumbaya circle for another new face. It was wrong. World’s moved on just fine without me.”

“I didn’t,” Barry whispered, and Leonard’s heart caught in his throat. “I know for a fact that Lisa didn’t. I mean, you saw her.”

“When she threw several vases and Louboutin heels at my head, yes, she looked just _peachy_.”

Barry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, _years_ after Cisco and Mick had to break the news to her after you - you _died_ and she broke down. And Mick doesn’t talk about his feelings but Ray said he was in a pretty bad way for a while too.”

“Really heart-warming, good to know.”

“I nearly saved you after A.R.G.U.S.” Barry practically spat the words out, and Leonard realized his hands were shaking, curling tight in the excess dough like he needed something, anything, to hold onto to anchor him. “I wanted... Iris asked me if I wanted to save you when we brought you back for the break-in at A.R.G.U.S. I almost said yes, I - I wanted so _bad_ to say yes and just run to the Vanishing Point or tell you then and there you were going to did. You have no idea...” Barry broke off with a sniff, eyes glistening in the low light of the kitchen and the tangled Christmas lights on the cabinets. “You have no idea how badly I wanted to save you. I never forgave myself for that, even though I knew it was the right thing and you did what you had to do. _You_ did the right thing.”

“The Flash can’t save everybody, Barry,” Leonard said carefully, and while it was true, he couldn’t help but feel that he was fighting a losing battle because would he even have taken the chance to save himself if he’d known the exact circumstances of his death? He wanted to say _yes, of course_ , but clearly time was a trickster all on its own. He got the sense that there was little he could’ve done even if he’d wanted to save everyone _and_ himself.

“I just wanted to save _you,_ ” Barry said. Leonard’s heart wouldn’t stop squeezing deep in his throat as Barry stepped closer, flour streaked on his hands and tears welling up in his eyes. It took everything in his power not to jerk back, not to backpedal in the face of Barry’s grief. “Call me selfish but... Even if you think the world moved on, I didn’t. Your friends and family didn’t.”

“A sweet sentiment and all,” Leonard murmured, “but a little late.”

“What do you - ” Barry’s jaw tightened. “Oh. You’re not...”

“Lisa gave me a tip for a couple of jobs out in Keystone,” Leonard admitted. Bringing his voice above a whisper was a herculean effort with how dry his throat had become. “Already said goodbye for now.”

Barry swiped a hand over his eyes and a boiling fury he couldn’t understand stared back at Leonard. “You’re really just going to... You’re just going to leave. You came to tell me you’re _leaving_.”

“You were the one who wanted me to skip town ages ago,” Leonard reminded him, lips twisting tight at the memory, the bubble of laughter he could suddenly recall bursting in his chest when this swaggering do-gooding hero dared to try and make a deal with him in the middle of the woods. A flare of warmth curled in his gut, spreading through his veins, and he tamped down on his emotions with an iron-clad grip.

“I never - Don’t twist my words!”

“You said you wanted me to leave.”

“That was before I knew you!” Barry’s cheeks flushed a lovely red when he was angry, but he took little pleasure in seeing it mingled with the hurt glaring at him all the while from his eyes. “You already said that deal was off anyway, right? After - You know - ”

“ _Barry_.” He kept his tone calm, collected as ever in the face of the puffed up irritation and determination he could sense stirring within Barry even while feet away from him. “There’s nothing keeping me here anymore. Hasn’t been anything for a long time, to be honest. Might be time for a change of pace.”

“Nothing at all,” Barry said. Something in his low tone made Leonard frown.

“I already told you, Lisa - ”

“I’m not...” Barry closed his eyes and the anger began to dissolve on his face, shoulders slumping as he moved to stand less than a foot away from Leonard, meeting his gaze with trepidation. “That’s not what I meant.”

Leonard waited patiently, but Barry didn’t elaborate. Instead, his eyes darted upward, a small O forming on his lips alongside a darker blush high on his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

It didn’t take a genius to follow the same path and realize just what they were standing under, perhaps ironically since they both had seen the mistletoe and _known_ the cocky little sprig was there from the beginning. But it didn’t budge from its spot on the cracked ceiling, despite how hastily it had been pinned by Barry, and continued to sway ever-so-slightly in the chill coming through the apartment’s open window, winking down at them with its tiny white berries.

There were several jokes on the tip of Leonard’s tongue (most of them involving puns about traditions, because really, he might’ve been Jewish but he knew not _every_ Christmas tradition was adhered to as strictly as people made them out to be) but they all fizzled to dust at the sight of the sheepish glint in Barry’s eyes, the red that still hadn’t disappeared from his cheeks.

 _Oh_ , he thought, and suddenly he had a better idea than a simple pun.

“You heard the door,” Leonard said, cocking his head and _he was right, he knew he was_ as Barry flushed a deeper scarlet, folding his arms over his chest as he averted his eyes. “You _heard_ me come in.”

“You weren’t exactly quiet,” Barry grumbled.

“Barry Allen,” and oh, he truly loved the way the other squirmed at the sound of his own name, “did you _plan_ this?”

“Define... _this_.”

Leonard pointed up at the mistletoe with the expression he best felt conveyed _duh, what do you think?_

Barry cringed. “Right. Um. Yes? And no?”

“How very straightforward of you.”

“I just - ” Barry groaned and bit his lip, which was entirely too distracting given the current situation. “I heard the door open and you really aren’t subtle so maybe I grabbed some leftover mistletoe and decided to...you know. Hang it. Since a certain somebody also decided to ignore me ever since he showed up in my _bedroom_ and now wants to say goodbye like nothing else happened.” The glower Barry shot him could’ve fried any unprepared mortal to a crisp. “Because _apparently_ I count as ‘nothing’. Even though I’ve given you, like, _ten_ different reasons to _stay_ and yet - ”

Leonard used both hands to cup the sides of Barry’s neck, feeling his impossibly quick pulse leap the instant his skin made contact, and he allowed a second or two more for Barry to meet his eyes _properly_ and _see_ what he was getting at before he leaned in. 

He hardly needed the extra second in the end - Barry Allen, as always, met him halfway, hands encircling the belt loops of Leonard’s jeans in a light grip as he tugged him the rest of the way forward. Leonard could feel the easy hum of energy jumping off Barry’s skin everywhere, from his lips to his hips flush against his own to his fingertips curling tighter and tighter in the belt loops. His own veins pulsed with every shift of skin against skin, both from the high of _finally, finally_ kissing Barry Allen and the Oculus’s lingering handprint on his recarved bones. Barry nipped at his lower lip and a tiny jolt of electricity leapt between the point of contact and Barry’s skin, which - shit, was he _vibrating_?

“Fuck,” Barry muttered, pulling back for a moment to glare at the blurred shape that was his left hand until it settled into something more recognizable. “Sorry, I - that happens. Sometimes.”

“Going too fast for you, Flash?” Leonard couldn’t help but ask, and now the glare swung to _him_ , but underneath the frustration lay a ghost of a smile.

“Very original.”

“I thought so too.”

Barry chuckled and Leonard took the opportunity to press back in, tracing Barry’s fluttering pulse point as the kiss turned messy, teeth tugging and clacking against each other as they tried to continue through their laughter. Well, _Barry’s_ laughter mostly, but Leonard couldn’t deny a familiar spark of laughter that reminded him of a certain standoff years ago in the woods outside Central City was beginning to burn in his chest like wildfire. The heaviness that had threatened to crush him the moment he walked into the apartment lifted, just a little, enough so that Barry’s hand shifting to cradle the back his head and the gentle push of his tongue against Leonard’s were more of a comfort than another burden dragging him down. And judging by Barry’s unrelenting grip, the speedster wasn’t planning on letting go anytime soon.

Leonard wasn’t one to talk, though; if he had his way, if he were a worse man, he’d latch onto Barry like a leech and hang on until his body gave up.

Instead, he managed to hang on for a few minutes more, riding the high of the relentless kissing as Barry pushed into him and Leonard pinned his back against the counter, dough and flour and mistletoe all forgotten, until Leonard regained his will to pull back and stop Barry with a finger to his reddened, swollen mouth. Fuck. _That_ was a sight he wasn’t likely to forget anytime soon.

“I appreciate the effort, planned or not,” Leonard said, and he had to clear his throat to get rid of the raspiness intruding in on his voice. “But Keystone is calling.”

Barry raised an eyebrow and his hold on the back of Leonard’s head tightened only for a moment, blunt nails scraping in a heavenly way across his shorn hair and the nape of his neck. “I think I know what your problem is now.”

“Do tell.”

Barry leaned in, leaving scant inches between their lips, Leonard’s finger sliding to the left to trace the corner of a dimple involuntarily. He could taste the heady scent of ozone in the air even though Barry used none of his speed; Barry simply watched and waited, breathing in and out as his eyes trailed over every last contour and wrinkle on Leonard’s face. That devastating fondness he both craved and despised crawled on its hands and knees into Barry’s stare, a silent plea he couldn’t ignore and Barry had to know it, whether it was purposeful or not.

“You don’t have nothing,” Barry said, quiet and steady, unwavering even as Leonard started to protest. “You’re alive again. You have your best friend, your sister, friends - or, a crew, however you want to think of them - a pardon, a new chance on life after so long, and now you’ve got _everything_ instead of nothing.” He swallowed hard and Leonard was too weak not to track the movement. “You just don’t know what to do with it all.”

“If you’re about to suggest tights and a cape - ”

“I’m not,” Barry promised. “I’m only saying that you don’t have to run when you’re not alone. You’re _not_ , Leonard.”

“And I suppose me staying involves something in it for you aside from frequent _I told you so_ ’s,” Leonard said, but they both knew he was fishing. He didn’t need to ask the unspoken question.

“I just want you,” Barry murmured. “Whether you want... Whether it involves _this_ ,” he gestured between them, “or not, I just want a second chance too. If that’s okay.”

“Considering your last relationship ended with Nazis, I can’t promise anything,” Leonard warned, but he didn’t need to say anything more to know the thousand watt grin he received would be more than enough of a motivation to toss his packed bags in the car back at the safe house later tonight.

And there would be a _later,_ given the kisses Barry allowed him to press against his lips and neck while he tried to finish putting the cookies in the oven, loudly complaining through laughter that Leonard was useless in the kitchen, but Leonard kept up his teasing. The pulse of the Oculus thrummed alongside Barry’s, and he took half a second to whisper the first _thank you_ he’d ever uttered since the explosion, a small smile tugging at his lips when a shimmer of blue danced across his fingertips in response.

But for now, he kept that last part quiet and enjoyed the “everything” he was allowed to have for once.

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream with me on my DCTV Tumblr @areyouscarletcold. Comments are always appreciated, and have a great day!


End file.
